a journal of finding good food and restaurants i love to eat in Taipei when I'm not in Los Angeles. looking forward to hearing from other food lovers about where your favorite places to eat are, so i can try them next!

Kid friendliness: high chairs available, additional seating on second floor- stairs only

Visit reviewed: 2/1/2011 & 1/24/2013

Zhu Ji was one of the first places my family friend took me to when I visited Taipei when I first started spending more time here, probably 9 years ago- it was near her office, it had vegetarian options for her and my mom and it had great prices. The red and golden storefront made for a memorable and lasting impression, so on my repeat visits, I recognized it even before I knew where RenAi Rd was or a "xian bing" was. In fact, a version of a post for this restaurant has been sitting in my blog posts folder for at least 8 years.

The two story restaurant is busy at lunchtime, but not touristy enough yet that you can't grab a table by walking in. It also helps that they have many locations across Taipei. Upstairs has more tables to seat larger groups, while the main floor has peek into the dumpling wrapping open kitchen.

Small plates of cold dishes (NT$40/each) are available in the back, perfect for sharing until your food arrives. Find the decked out shelves and help yourself to your choice of pickled vegetables, spicy eggplant or choice of tofu/soy. My favorites include bamboo, eggplant and thousand year old egg with tofu. They have a pretty large selection compared to most places, which works for my mom who is vegetarian.

Hey, I just noticed the plates have gotten slightly (considerably) smaller since my last visit two years ago.

Ordering is off a check off sheet in Chinese, but if you ask for an English menu, they have one. It's funny to also see how the English menu has evolved from a greasy, one page laminated sheet to a full fledged fancy book, with pictures next to each item for easy identification.

So what to order? You have to order the house specialty- xian bing (NT$40)- which comes filled with beef, pork, vegetables or leek. In English, it's listed as a "beef pastry," in the past as a "beef meat pie," I've also heard it called a "beef pancake." Tastewise, it's probably can be described as a pan fried, flattened dumpling. The dough is thinner than a bao, but breadier than a regular dumpling, while the patty-like meat inside is juicy seasoned ground beef with spring onions. Like a burger, it's a bit hard to eat without making a mess, as you can't eat it in one bite without having juices dribbling down your chin.

Another one of my favorites is the beef roll which is a spring onion pancake rolled up with beef and spring onions and hoisin sauce. The chewy yet flaky wrap makes for a surprisingly satisfying compact appetizer and is not as messy as the xian bing. Everytime I see this, I have to order it and I think Zhu Ji makes some of the best ones.

I usually pull out the spring onions and just keep the cucumber inside, since I don't really like raw spring onions.

There's also quite a few noodle soups to choose from- beef noodle soup, won ton noodle soup, hot and sour soup, cold noodles with shredded chicken or to name some. The great thing about Zhu Ji at this location is the knife cut noodles, which come in long wavy strips and have a fresh chewy bite. The soup was a tad salty for me on this visit, but I've enjoyed it on other occasions at their Mitsukoshi location (which doesn't have the knife cut noodles). For my favorite knife cut beef noodle place, check out Shan Xi Dao Xiao Mian- it's not as nice of an atmosphere, but the food is great.

Skip the wonton noodles, a bit mushy and bland.

And of course there's no shortage of dumplings to choose from- steamed pork dumplings (NT$110), veggie dumplings (NT$110), shrimp pork or pork wontons, pan fried dumplings.. the best thing about eating with family or a large group is that you can share to sample them all!

I quite like the veggie dumplings which come with finely chopped chives, glass noodles and mini cubes of tofu.

Shrimp pork wontons with chili oil on the side (NT$120)

I probably wouldn't order the pan fried dumplings (NT$100) again as they were not crispy as I've had at other places (for perfectly pan fried dumplings try Ma Shan Tang or Zhang Ji Fried dumplings or the local chain Ba Fang Yun Ji).

Come hungry since you will leave full.. Order a table full of food for less than two baskets of Din Tai Fung XLB and use your savings on dessert.

Oh my god, I used to live in Taipei and miss beef noodle soup every single day. I live in Singapore now and have a food blog, but the food is no where near as interesting as Taiwan! Check it out if you're free! It's www.treatsandmeats.com.

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